Insights : Case Studies

Panviva Case Study – Partnering for Continuous Improvement

By Planit Software Testing

Panviva is a SaaS software vendor that has grown into a global leader in the Knowledge Management space. Today, Panvia is helping companies worldwide to solve their most complex information access problems by delivering context aware, just-in-time information. Panviva's product suite emerged from a driving desire to give employees moment of need access to the information they need, when they need it and in the context of that point in the business process – to do their jobs right the first time. Planit was engaged to increase the sophistication of Panviva’s testing capability and supporting a quality customer experience through its technology.

“Taking a snapshot of just the past three months: We have a 4.97× increase in tests executed per release and 20.8× reduction in bugs found...”

“Like many matured software vendors, we needed to get our product out of the dark ages of heavy complex desktop and server upgrades, stockpiled by customer IT into even longer more cumbersome upgrade cycles. Businesses had to wear the burden of increasing costs of infrastructure and IT management, along with the disruptions to the business and ultimately, the end users had to wait prolonged periods to receive any fixes or enhancements. We needed to radically modernise and transform our solution, from a legacy on-premise product, to a native cloud based solution and, as the CIO, this transformation was my responsibility.

“Software testing is a critical component and while we already had our own testing team, we needed to sprint into a new echelon of modern test capability and sophistication that organic growth just wasn’t going to achieve quick enough. So we ended up talking to 3 or 4 testing companies to find the best fit. Planit stood out for a number of reasons and I was impressed from the outset with their consultative and innovative approach that was relevant to what we were trying to achieve, as opposed to a sales-based widget approach. This was very refreshing, real and involved meeting with the people who would actually do the work, rather than be handed over to people who may not even be in your time zone to deal with for the first time.

“There aren’t many Australian software vendors doing this sort of transformation, so it brought some unique perspectives and timeframes to work within. We needed a business partner who were genuinely interested in what we were trying to achieve and that’s what we got with Planit. The initial engagement was for developing and executing the relevant QA components of the transformation project and building test automation. It was a 12 month project and a resounding success. Planit were transparent and participated as if they were part of our team, always looking for ways to add value. I think they got a lot of kicks out of being a part of our story! Following the successful implementation of our new cloud product, we decided to move the BAU ownership of the test function for all our functional and technical testing to Planit.

“Being a genuine part of our team means that as our requirements change, Planit are in-step with us – every step of the way. They’ve become our strategic test partners and lead as if they are us, without losing their identity. We have the Planit people working physically alongside our people, but we also have the wider world of Planit at our fingertips, as our skill and bandwidth needs change. Their strategic leadership embraces flexibility and their capability for ramping up and down as we need provides a massive cost saving.

“Today, Planit is a one stop shop for all our testing needs, from functional, to performance, to APIs and they deliver it all like one of our team.

“There are numerous benefits that we derive from Planit’s testing capability. For example, their ability to trouble-shoot via increased visibility of a project’s risk position. This means we can have confidence that if there are issues or potential impacts, we are proactively made aware and can act in real time.

“Taking a snapshot of just the past three months: We have a 4.97× increase in tests executed per release and 20.8× reduction in bugs found.

“The engagement is frictionless and we work in a paradigm of trust. It’s loyalty that’s been earned via a true two-way partnership, as opposed to a transactional vendor – client relationship. This results in our ability to accelerate our delivery because when we need to ramp up – they were already part of the decision.

“Enhancing our customers’ experience is part of our own commitment to continuous improvement. Planit make it their business to ensure that our software performs with outstanding user benefits that reinforce our brand’s excellent reputation. The quality of our product is consistently enhanced and optimised and this results in few issues, happy customers and ultimately helps us win more business.

“One of the rewarding aspects about working with Planit is that they are completely aligned with our business goals. Their own proactive commitment to continuous improvement means they genuinely seek to add value, innovate and deliver results.”